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Get Lost in the Sauce with Hypnotic Pop Culture Mandalas

Artist, illustrator, and animator Bronwyn Lundberg goes from fangirl to fame with her celebrity portraits.

A photo posted by Bronwyn Lundberg (@bronwynlundberg) on

Dec 11, 2016 at 11:56am PST

Most people limit their celebrity adoration to Google stalking and reading TMZ, but artist, illustrator, and animator Bronwyn Lundberg transformed fandom into an artistic practice. Lundberg draws on popular culture to create her colorful, cartoonish portraits, whose subjects range from A-listers to velociraptors.

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Lundberg tells The Creators Project how she started making portraits and what motivates her to keep trying new things: “I started drawing celebrity portraits when I discovered my favorite band, No Doubt. I got to meet them a couple times, and their encouraging responses to my art fueled me to keep it up. Since then, I’ve been lucky enough to give my work directly to other public figures who really inspire me. When I draw someone, it’s my way of expressing appreciation, so if they happen to see it and express delight, it completes the loop for me.”

A photo posted by Bronwyn Lundberg (@bronwynlundberg) on

Nov 28, 2016 at 6:29pm PST

In addition to celebrities, Lundberg says she is inspired by other popular culture tropes, including velociraptors. “Like many children of the 90s, I was and still am a proud dinosaur queen.” Lundberg frequently draws a female velociraptor in various absurd and satirical situations to comment on feminism and empowerment. “I love using humor to illustrate a point, which is probably why the ‘Clever Girl’ velociraptor from Jurassic Park is my inspirational blueprint for portraying feminism. Powerful, resourceful, shrewd… the feminine boss is inside all of us and shouldn’t be ignored.”

A photo posted by Bronwyn Lundberg (@bronwynlundberg) on

Jul 18, 2014 at 4:32pm PDT

Painting celebrity portraits made Lundberg a bit a celebrity herself, when she garnered buzz with The Lesbian Last Supper, a work replacing Jesus and the twelve apostles with famous openly gay women like Ellen DeGeneres, Portia de Rossi, Wanda Sykes, and Rosie O’Donnell. Last year, Lundberg literally "made it big" in Hollywood when YoMeryl, the creative studio that Lundberg started with Creative Director Sarah Zucker, produced two murals for the city of West Hollywood. Now, YoMeryl is contributing an animated series called MUTATIONS to entertainment studio Super Deluxe.

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A photo posted by Bronwyn Lundberg (@bronwynlundberg) on

Apr 4, 2016 at 1:09pm PDT

Recently, Lundberg’s lighthearted approach led her to make some stunning pop culture mandalas. “Last year I discovered a lovely program for iPad called Amaziograph. I use it as part of my morning ritual to ‘play’ for 20 minutes before officially starting my day.” Lundberg shares hypnotic videos of these symmetrical works being created on Instagram and plans to continue to develop more of them. “In the time that I’ve been drawing mandalas, I’ve noticed a growing collection of rainbow vortexes that expand into the layers of the earth. I have experimented with a few iconic faces in this mandala style too and intend to expand this practice in 2017.”

A video posted by Bronwyn Lundberg (@bronwynlundberg) on

Jan 16, 2017 at 8:14am PST

A photo posted by Bronwyn Lundberg (@bronwynlundberg) on

Jan 2, 2017 at 8:17am PST

A photo posted by Bronwyn Lundberg (@bronwynlundberg) on

Jan 6, 2017 at 9:19am PST

The Infinite #GeorgeMichael 

A photo posted by Bronwyn Lundberg (@bronwynlundberg) on

Jan 3, 2017 at 10:27am PST

See more of Bronwyn Lundberg’s work on her website, and keep up with her upcoming projects with YoMeryl and on Instagram.

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